KABUL: More than 50 international law and human rights experts have called for the treatment of women and girls under Taliban rule in Afghanistan to be recognised as “gender apartheid” and criminalised under international law.
The appeal is contained in the “International Declaration on Gender Apartheid and Its Destructive Consequences”, which is scheduled to be launched virtually on August 13 by the University of Michigan Law School.
Organisers said the declaration followed 18 months of consultations involving international lawyers and Afghan women’s rights advocates, with a particular focus on supporting women and girls in Afghanistan.
More than 50 figures have signed the declaration, including Nobel laureates, former international court judges, former United Nations officials and human rights advocates from Afghanistan and South Africa.
Focus on Afghan women
The declaration argues that Afghan women and girls have faced extensive restrictions since the Taliban returned to power in August 2021.
Girls remain barred from secondary schools and universities, while women face restrictions on employment, movement and participation in public life.
The document also points to the detention of dozens of women in the western Afghan city of Herat over alleged dress-code violations and the suppression of protests that followed.
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The experts are urging the international community to explicitly prohibit gender apartheid under the proposed Convention on Crimes Against Humanity and use existing international legal mechanisms to address the situation in Afghanistan.
They also called for accountability for those responsible for policies they characterise as gender apartheid and reparations for victims.
Afghan women’s rights advocates, legal experts and international figures are expected to participate in the declaration’s virtual launch on August 13.
